Soundproofing and Acoustic Materials - Insights

Results of a Poll of Engineering360 subscribers

Sound proofing and acoustic materials are used to attenuate, deaden, or control sound and noise levels from machinery and other sources for environmental amelioration and regulatory compliance. Sound proofing and acoustic materials can use either noise reduction or noise absorption. Noise reduction reduces the energy of sound waves as they pass through. Noise absorption suppresses echoes, reverberation, resonance and reflection. Important specifications for noise reduction and...
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Q & A on Soundproofing and Acoustic Materials

We asked our users for their input on Soundproofing and Acoustic Materials.
Here are the results of 159 users
familiar with Soundproofing and Acoustic Materials.

From your perspective, which companies are creating the most innovative soundproofing and acoustic materials?

15 answers

Answers:

Now you've got me. I'm really an amateur in this area and though I have a ton of links and saved pages can't recall off the top of my head any of the manufactures. Acousticoat is a product that I liked, and the paste that Noxudol makes. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Please share with us any “non-standard” applications that soundproofing and acoustic materials have been used for.

13 answers

Answers:

I've layered low temp acoustic foams into 'fiberglass' sandwiches and then made that into fireproof jackets with fire-blanket and stainless thread. The results were good. I also used nano beads to form a thick polyuratheane sound soaking skin on some hand held power tools for use outdoors in a residential area. Not bad. But then upped the effect with sound deadening jackets over the cutting disks. Helped contain the dust prior to extraction too. Not perfect, but significant reduction achieved to appease disgruntled tenants.

An architect we built a school for paid very much attention to the acoustics not only of the classrooms (standard), but also to the teachers' relaxing room. Walls were covered with a decorative structured, porous MDF sheet. In another case, a school too, the classroom's acoustic ceiling had a double use: it formed the "lost" concrete floor support of the above floor. Standard today, but interesting, is "replacing" missing humans' clothes in large public volumes like concert halls or theaters.

Do you know of any disastrous mistakes that occurred due to the incorrect usage of soundproofing and acoustic materials?

8 answers

Answers:

Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Concert Hall, and many other municipal acoustic spaces suffer from design jitters - too many inputs at once, unclear specifications, a mis-communication of the consequences of sticking to a rigid brief without considering other possible uses of a major building. All this adds up to Hundreds of millions of wasted dollars and years of frustratingly below par performances.

~Harry W, Project Manager, Melbourne, Australia

Heavy acoustic foam pads on the Imax at the Science Museum. They peeled off as the glue dried out, and many of the retaining studs (spot welded to the underside of the steel floor/roof deck) failed and were pulled off sill embedded in the foam. The foam didn't impress me much either, drying out and cracking in the hot dry dusty spaces behind and above lighting racks and suspended walk ways.

Unplanned holes of different kinds, incompetent mounting personal, building on a 1:1 scale an "original" structure/mixture no one has tested before. Poor analysis of the problem's specificities (noise's specific frequency, intensity, goals to achieve).

~Eric C, Master-carpenter Teacher, Geneva, Switzerland

Ford auditorium In Detroit Michigan will be torn down due to its poor acoustical characteristics and at taxpayers' expense. This could have been avoided with better analysis and planning.

~John M, Design Engineer, Brighton, MI

The materials used were not fire retardant and created a major fire hazard.

~Reinhard R, Consultant, Slacks Creek, Australia

Mainly badly spent money and loss of reputation, no more than that.

~Electronic maintenance and operation in a large vevue, Montreal, Canada

Is there any advice you want to share with users to help them avoid common errors in selection or usage of soundproofing and acoustic materials?

11 answers

Answers:

Tie one size fits all approach, where a particular product is used because it has great testimonials or apparent specs, often gives disappointing results. There are always several ways to approach any particular problem in acoustics - and indeed in engineering generally.

~Harry W, Project Manager, Melbourne, Australia

Stop the sound at source. Isolate wherever possible. Think simple. ( harder than you might imagine) try on a small scale if possible before spending big.

Do you have any advice for people relative to buying or using soundproofing and acoustic materials?

13 answers

Answers:

Create the most effective situation or solution to your problem, do not be afraid to ask for a bigger budget, it will be cut anyway, make sure you can do more than half the job with less than half the money.

~Electronic maintenance and operation in a large vevue, Montreal, Canada

Do a thorough analysis first and a test run or visit a similar facility before committing to a particular methodology.

~Harry W, Project Manager, Melbourne, Australia

Use experienced acoustic consultant to get an complete view of the design. And check for leakage first.

~Noise and Vibration Specialist, Örebro, Sweden

They need to take the "frequency and sound attenuation level" into account.